Tell people that you’re off on a minibreak to Vienna on your own and they’ll do one of two things. The first is to burst into a rendition of Ultravox’s most famous song (if they’re of a certain age), while the second, I discovered, is to rave about the delights of solo travel.

The latter was news to me – which is why it took me until the age of 38 to do it myself.

A city stuffed to the gills with coffee and cake, museums and schnitzels where the public transport (an extensive metro system and trams) is easy to navigate and everyone I spoke to seemed to be fluent in English was just what a first-timer needed.

Cooler than I was expecting

The sunshine and blossoming trees helped, as did staying in the Seventh district, near both the old town (Innere Stadt) and the MuseumsQuartier, a complex of museums and galleries. Also known as Neubau, it’s an arty area with a much cooler vibe – studios, shops, vegan restaurants, bars – than I was expecting in a city that’s steeped in Mozart and has far more than its fair share of horse-drawn carriages.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in Vienna’s old town

I set myself a few rules for exploring the city on my own – no tracking down friends of friends, because that felt like cheating. No lurking in my hotel, the Altstadt, despite the fact it was fascinating – a former apartment block that had only gradually been colonised (some of the building is still lived in, so amid the modern art and breakfast buffet someone would be taking their bins out).

Be brave but not foolhardy, and when cultural fatigue set in at art galleries and museums, have a sit down rather than trudging my way round every masterpiece in sight.

I padded around the streets near my hotel and stopped at Glacis Beisl, a modern-looking restaurant serving traditional Viennese food for a schnitzel the size of my face.

A schnitzel as big as my face

In what would become a familiar experience, I was asked by a group of hungry diners if they could have my (bigger) table. I had a newspaper and a Großes Bier – I wasn’t bothered.

The art of the city

Vienna is heaven for art lovers. In the MuseumsQuartier I drifted around the Museum of Modern Art and the square outside, studded with architectural street furniture.

During my three-night stay, I saw coldly impressive Mark Rothkos at the Kunsthistorisches Museum as well as Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and other Treasures, a winning exhibition curated by the film director Wes Anderson and his partner. Klimt at the Belvedere palace was an architectural as well as artistic delight, and going alone meant that I could spend as much time as I wanted looking at the paintings – as well as charging my phone in the museum’s foyer while I rested my feet and read my book.

Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum

I wouldn’t have put modern architecture and Vienna together had I not explored the city with the tour guide (and art historian and therapist) Alexa Brauner.

She showed me the Zaha Hadid library at the new campus of the University of Economics and Business – a futuristic cruise ship that looked built for space travel rather than learning, near the Prater, which contains an amusement park and 1897 Ferris wheel that featured in The Third Man.

Inside Zaha Hadid’s futuristic university library

Ancient and modern

A visit to the Second district, Leopoldstadt – historically home to the Orthodox Jewish community but now a popular area with thirtysomething city dwellers – ended with a slice of strudel in the brilliant Supersense café on Praterstraße, where you can make your own perfume, take a giant instant photograph of yourself or hire a Polaroid camera.

Walking the streets of the grätzl (neighbourhood), Alexa pointed out the empty shops that had been turned into Airbnb-style rooms to rent, and the multilingual menus in restaurant windows. Not just for tourists, she told me, but also because this was such a diverse area.

Sausage for one

Diverse, too, is the food scene – while I visited one of two Bitzinger sausage stands for a wurst served on a paper plate with ketchup, mustard and a slice of rye bread, I also ate sustainably grown pickled vegetables at Heuer at Karlsplatz, stumbled on a perfect French brasserie, Beaulieu, down a shadowy arcade in the Innere Stadt, and ate a vegan salad in the hip Wrenkh restaurant. No arguing over where to eat for this lone wolf.

Jars of wonder at Vienna’s Heuer restaurant

I felt safe and happy in Vienna – people were friendly and ready to big up their city, make pleasantries and share a joke, without being too in-your-face.

Splashing out

That showed when I took myself for a swim in the Danube after giving myself a pep talk about being brave – I found a spot on the bank in a public park and stripped to my swimsuit.

A peaceful spot on the Danube for some outdoor swimming

Two ladies out Nordic walking shouted encouragement and schoolgirls grinned as they jogged by during a PE lesson. I swam, amazed at hearing the beat of a swan’s wing in the city, a 10-minute metro ride from the centre of town.

The morning I left, on my way to get the train to the airport, I was already planning my next solo trip. Back to Vienna, for starters, and to some of the other cities I’d never made it to because I’d had no one to go with. Now I have me, myself and I – excellent company, it turns out.

Tips for solo travellers

Take a good book

I’d recommend Alone Time: Four Cities, Four Seasons and the Pleasure of Solitude by Stephanie Rosebloom. Beautifully written, it paints intimate portraits of four cities and how often we let the boring bits of life get in the way of the good stuff. Or take anything you love so that if you’re eating, drinking or sitting alone, you have company in its pages.

Before I arrived, I researched a few places to go. If Dogs Run Free, a cool cocktail bar, was one, as was burggasse24, an amazing vintage clothing store that turned out to be near my hotel.

Work out the lay of the land in daylight

I didn’t know how I’d feel about socialising on my own in the evenings, so made sure I had my bearings before the sun set. I also ensured I was back near base before I’d had too many white wine spritzers (such a good, and cheap, Viennese drink), and always found out where the nearest metro station was.

Trust your instincts

I felt instantly at home in a little bar called Ginsberg near my hotel – even though everyone in there was smoking like it was the 1990s and my coat stank the next day. When I felt mildly uncomfortable about a guy sitting next to me at the bar, I let the barmaid know and she scooped me up and introduced me to her friends. Trust what does – and doesn’t – feel right.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Austrian flies direct from Heathrow, Luton and Manchester, and easyJet flies from Gatwick, Luton and Manchester. LEVEL flies from Gatwick and Ryanair from Southend and Stansted. Fares from around £70.

We know that sometimes it’s easier for us to come to you with the news. That's why our new email newsletter will deliver a mobile-friendly snapshot of inews.co.uk to your inbox every morning, from Monday to Saturday.

This will feature the stories you need to know, as well as a curated selection of the best reads from across the site. Of course, you can easily opt out at any time, but we're confident that you won't.

Oliver Duff, Editor

By entering your email address and clicking on the sign up button below, you are agreeing to receive the latest daily news, news features and service updates from the i via email. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will not pass on your information.